MILWAUKIE ELKS CLUB; MILWAUKIE, OR By Ty Hughes Well, the fourth decade of steel tip mania, Oregon style, best known as the Oregon Open is now officially in the books, as they say. The Milwaukie Elks Lodge in Milwaukie, Oregon was packed to the gills over the weekend of April 11-13, 2008 with players from all corners of the United States. In fact, most impressive to me was the amazing distance some of these people traveled in order to participate in the ADO Sanctioned 39th Annual Oregon Open, boasting an amazing $10,000 Payout over three days of competition. This is the longest running steel tip dart tournament in the entire U.S. Players came from Canada, Michigan, Arizona and California to name a few, but the furthest traveler was none other that the infamous Dartoid himself, who came all the way from Tampa, Florida! Maybe it was all that money that brought these steel tip enthusiasts out of their hiding places, but by my assessment, I’d say it was far more than just the money if at all. These folks are diehard dart apprecianados and champions on a personal journey to satisfy their deep need for the true and pure darting experience. This being my first time attending the Oregon Open, I haven’t got anything to compare it to except from what I heard while talking to the many veterans in attendance. Among the many facilitators was Roger Christal of the Portland Area Dart Association (PADA) and his faithful helpers, Craig Boughton and Christina Oakley. Roger said he was quite pleased with the turnout and Christina graciously took the time to introduce me to several of the big-name players. It was 85 degrees outside on that Saturday, but no one inside the Elks seemed to care either way – it was only darts on the brain here. The bartender did a superb job of supplying healthy spirits to the masses, keeping everyone loose and focused on the task at hand. The atmosphere was quiet with only the sound of soft conversation and the regular muted thud of the darts hitting the soft boards. Forty dart boards were set up in rows on the tournament floor with several more on the elevated staging area where the finals for each flight were held. An impressive turnout of 40 female players rounded out the female brackets nicely, giving them an exciting group from which to gauge their skills. Friday night kicked off the weekend with a Blind Draw Doubles at 7:30pm with a payout of $1,360. Saturday morning at 10am, they started up again with a Mixed 501 Doubles tournament featuring $1,220 in cash prizes. By 2pm things were rolling right along when they announced the start of the Men’s and Ladies 501 Singles event. $1,370 was paid out in the Men’s shoot and $530 paid out to the women. The Men’s and Women’s 501 Doubles shootout began at 7pm Saturday night, featuring a $1,360 payout for the guys and $500 for the girls. Sunday brought the whole gang back by 10am for the Men’s and Women’s Cricket Doubles event with $1,360 allotted to the Men’s tournament and $500 to the women’s. By Sunday night everyone was pretty well wiped out, but the enthusiasm hadn’t waned as they kicked off the final event of the weekend; Men’s and Women’s Cricket Singles with $1,370 paid out to the guys and $530 to the women. After a long weekend of classy and tasteful, well-mannered competition, the best of the best were revealed and they were: Blind Draw Doubles 1st – Pat Breithaupt & Jason Merrell Mixed Doubles 1st – Kevin Luke & Nancy Huntoon Mens 01 Singles 1st – Chris White Ladies 01 Singles 1st – Laraine Hinsen 1st – Gregg Haggan & Jake Scott 1st – Jen Vilaysane & Julie Heckman Mens Cricket Doubles 1st – David Fatum & Chris White Ladies Cricket Doubles 1st – Carole Harriott & Loraine Hinson Mens Cricket Singles 1st – Rob Heckman Ladies Cricket Singles 1st – Laraine Hinsen Scoring Highlights 180; Brian Bauer (2), Thomas Bradley, Andy Campbell, Don Campos (2), Sammy Cruz (2), Peter Clark, Carlos Gressam, Luben Izov, Cory McCarter, Jim Nelson (2), Daniel Parrish (2), Ron Peppers, Chris Plute, Jim Pope, Wesley Rice White Horse; Brand Bauer Congratulations to everyone who rose above their competition to capture champion status and a big thanks goes out to those who showed up to make this a highly successful event. Special thanks to Roger Christal and the PADA for hosting the 39th Annual Oregon Open. We hope that next year’s 40th Annual event will be twice as big and that you will make the effort to be in attendance.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|